Day #5 : Koblenz and the Rhine (Part I)

 Good morning! We docked in Rudesheim overnight, specifically so we could cruise the "Romantic Rhine" this morning in the daylight and see all the castles. They're dotted all over the banks the past few days - beautiful to see. Yesterday afternoon a group of about 15 of us were glued to the windows, using Apple Maps to see what was coming up. Every so often one of us would shout "castle!" and everyone would start taking pictures. It was a fun experience.  :) 

Sending pictures this morning, and stories about Koblenz this afternoon. We're taking a tour of the city, then a cable car ride to Ehernbreitstein Fortress. Should have fun pictures to share. 

The view from the front of the ship 

There are random castles (and remains of castles) everywhere

The legend of Loreley. Depending on which version you follow, Loreley was either a type of mermaid who defended herself against sailors who wanted to kill her, or a woman who jumped from the top of the rock in order to prevent being sent to a convent. Either way, the legend says she's responsible for any rough weather that happens in that section of the Rhine. 

Here a castle, there a castle.....

Castle combined with Roman ruins. It does tickle me....depending on how much you can zoom in, you can see the word "HOTEL" on the side of the building. I guess repurposing can be a cool thing.... 

Yup, more castles. 

There's a line in a Jimmy Buffett song that goes "There's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning". You'll notice the building in the center is divided into a white section and a yellow section. The yellow is the bar, the white is the church. Easy access.....

Storytime! Two brothers fell in love with a woman named Angela. One brother proposed, she accepted, the second brother kept his silence and loved her from afar. However, brother #1 went off to fight the Crusades, fell in love (again), and came back with a Greek bride. Angela was heartbroken, since she had stayed faithful to him while he was off fighting. Brother #2, still in love with Angela, never said anything and she joined a convent. However, it caused enough friction between the family members that there are now two castles where there was once just one. And we think soap operas are complicated. 

Hanging out on the sun deck. 40 degrees F......COLD! 

Day #4 - Strasbourg

Greetings! At least I'm only a day late on this one. Today was busy....over 10,000 steps and a very tired me! There was a tour of Strasbourg in the morning, and an optional wine tour (which you know I took part in) in the afternoon of the Alsace region. 

I'm starting to get the hang of river cruising, and it's different from my previous vacations. Before I would randomly wander by myself, and get into some good conversations wherever I ended up. This time we're going places by huge vans and following tour guides waving Emerald Cruise flags. Much less chance for interaction and much more identification of "hey, I'm a tourist!" I'm learning a lot both ways, but it's a much different experience. 

Which brings me to my next point. The towns we're visiting are absolutely storybook-worthy. You'll see it in the pictures from today. We're the intruders in someone else's version of normal. Gotta wonder what it's like to live like this everyday.....walk cobblestone streets, live in houses built in the 1800's (the interior has been refurbished, but still), get your bread fresh from the corner bakery. I mentioned this in my trip to Napa - travel is good for adjusting your idea of normal. It's too easy to think your way is the only way to live. I do have to add a counterpoint, though.....if I were here permanently, I would definitely be introducing the concept of sweet tea. I miss it! 

There's also much more of an awareness of war, something we don't deal with as Americans. There are war memorials all over the place. Our tour guide on the winery trip told a story about her grandfathers having to fight for the Germans (they were not supporters) and how it affected their family. Easier to dismiss it when you haven't lived it, or had it happen on your land. 

One thing I love about here - the attention to greenery. Everywhere we go there are beautiful gardens and flowers. This is from a square in Strasbourg. 

In the bus on the way to Strasbourg 

Better view of the ship. This is the front half - the lounge is the top set of windows, the restaurant is the bottom set of windows. Cabins are in the second half of the ship (not pictured). 

One of the streets in Strasbourg

The cathedral in Strasbourg. Again, one of the tallest buildings in the city, and absolutely amazing in detail.

Some of the inside of the cathedral. 

I especially loved this piece of stained glass. If you can zoom in, look at Jesus' face. The artist took thousands of pictures of people and combined them to make his face. The idea was to emphasize the humanity and diversity of the world. It's a beautiful idea and execution. 

The astrological clock. I didn't understand all the details, but so fascinating to hear about all the different things it kept track of. 

I love the whimsical - the legend says that a pole featuring angels was added to the cathedral after it was built. People expressed concern that the pole was too heavy with all the carvings and would collapse, damaging the cathedral at best, causing a roof collapse at worst. So....the sculptor added himself to an opposite balcony, so he could always keep watch to make sure the pole wasn't leaning.....

Outside of the cathedral

More decoration - the bears were coming out to play! 

Petite Paris - a tiny section of Strasbourg, but an absolute fairy tale destination. Some of the most expensive houses in the area (of course). Again, the definition of normal.... 

More of Petite Paris (and me!) 

The fact that all these love locks are the same makes me think there's a salesman walking around somewhere, but the concept is cool. Happens all over France. 

Combining two symbols of France - the stork and the small mosaic (someone tell me the name of this style of art again?). The stork is a symbol of the Alsace region, and this style of art was all over Paris. Fun to see what people come up with. 

Entrance to the town. So many towns were built to be defended against invaders, hence the wall and gate. 

Alsace wineries are typically passed from family member to family member. The 21 year old daughter (not pictured) in this family had just created her first Reisling. She was preparing to take over the business from her father. This particular winery went back 6 generations, and existed before that. That's why the building is so old. It's not Disney, it's reality (again, going back to the definition of normalcy....) 

The French do NOT believe in stainless steel or the egg or any form of wine storage other than the oak barrel. This is deep in one of the cellars that store rows of these. 

Entrance to the town, as well as the sign for the winery. Tasting rooms and vineyards are separate, so we only saw the vines as we passed them in the tour bus. 

More stories: If you had a daughter who was of marrying age, you were supposed to place a heart on the door or roof to invite suitors to come visit. Personally it doesn't strike me as a fun idea for the daughter, but I also wonder - early form of eHarmony?  :) 

The crew that I'm hanging out with this week. I'll include the stories about the races for tables during lunch and dinner (it's open seating, and people get territorial) in another post. 

Day #3 - Breisach and Neuf Breisach

Score! I'm a little (a lot) late in posting, but it took a few days to get the wifi working with the laptop, and the laptop working with the pictures. Had a lovely conversation with a lady who was working in the lounge and she helped me. I think it's working now, so let's play catch up. 

Day #3 was Breisach and Neuf Breisach. These two towns are right on the French / German border. Breisach is German, and Neuf Breisach is French. One thing I always forget is the amount of history that exists in Europe - we Americans are babies by comparison. Neuf Breisach was originally built as a German military fortress (you'll see more in the pictures) and changed hands multiple times. It eventually stayed as a French city, and is completely different from the original Breisach. 

One funny - Again, Neuf Breisach is a French town, and Breisach is German. I thought I was being bad-a*& when I ordered a bottled water in a cafe in Neuf Breisach - I used my foreign language skills! Realized after I left that I used the wrong language - wrong country. Thank goodness for gracious residents......

One story - for the love of G-d, do NOT be an ugly American when you travel. I looked over at one point in the tour to see a woman taking a picture of the lace curtain in someone's window. She was taking the picture by putting her camera directly against the glass of the window. She probably got a shot of the curtains as well as the contents of their living room. Really - that's someone's residence. Be polite and respect their privacy. 

We started today in Neuf Breisach, and then toured in Breisach (including the church - we couldn't go inside, but got some good pics outside). I shared a picture with my RockBox group....the hills here are no joke! Couldn't have made it to the top without taking kickboxing / fitness classes for the past few months. 

The crew posts the schedule everyday - they encourage you to take a picture of it to help you remember. Here's today's offerings. 

Neuf Breisach

Decorating outside your door here is a big thing. Easter bunnies, reindeer.....they're all part of the charm. 

The church in Neuf Breisach. Since it's a military town, the church is very standard. No stained glass, no extras, no decoration. In fact, there are only seats for half the expected military members. Once a month they had to prove they had taken a bath, and half sat in the seats while the other half had their hands and feet inspected. Multi-purpose church. 

The town hall. If you look to the right on the roof, you'll see a stork's nest. Storks are a symbol in this area, and the city will frequently build iron nests for them to return year after year. Depending on how far you can zoom in, you'll see a little stork head popping up.  :) 

Again, decorating is a big deal. Look above the storefront, and you'll see squish mallow chicks and the Easter Bunny.  

Breisach 

It's a looooooooong way up! 

The view from the top. Posting to show how far we climbed! Amazed that people do this every day....even with several months of kickboxing, I was still wheezing by the top. 

Another shot of where we climbed from. 

The view from the top. The river below is where our boat is docked. 

The church. It was so big and tall I couldn't get the entire thing in one shot. 

Posting for the markings on the door....have seen it in a few houses in CLT. 

Better view of the church from the bottom of the hill. 

Interesting story - next to the church was this small statue, memorializing the prison for witches that formerly stood there. If you were a woman, your husband could declare you a witch for multiple reasons - curly hair, red hair, if you spoke back, etc. I would've been in trouble. Note: That's our local tour guide pictured. Gotta hand it to the guides.....they've been great at every stop as far as knowledge. 

I definitely inherited a sweet tooth, and there's no shortage here. Today's dessert at lunch was ice cream, and I took full advantage. Vanilla and raspberry with caramel sauce. 

Day #2: I'm on a boat!

.....and a very nice boat at that. After an hour-long ride from Zurich to Basel, the boat was ready and waiting. Have you seen the scene in The White Lotus when the staff was lined up on the docks to greet the arriving guests? Yup, kinda like that. After we checked in and got our keys the next staff member in line walked us to our room and gave us a tour. Pictures are downloading very slowly, I'm hoping to be able to post them once I've finished typing. 

What makes me smile: I've been "adopted" by four ladies from the West Coast. Two sisters and two who have been friends since the 4th grade. We road the bus over together, and they've decided I'm now part of their group. Very kind. 

Today was getting acclimated, learning how the ship works, and the most important fact - don't stick your head out of the balcony, especially at night. We go through multiple canal locks, so I don't want to imagine the reasons why that rule is in place. Tomorrow we visit Breisach and Neuf Breisach. Part German, part French. We're told most things will be closed down because it's Sunday, but we'll get a good tour of the city regardless. 

The boat takes off (takes off? starts moving? what's the correct term here?) at 9:45 tonight. I'll be interested to see what that's like - sleeping on a moving vehicle. More tomorrow! 

The main lobby area of the ship. Very understated but elegant. 

The balcony area of my room. The top half of the window slides down to create the balcony, then slides back up when I just want a window. 

Tiny swimming pool. It can open and close - they also have morning yoga and movie nights here. I have NOT gotten up early enough for yoga.  :) 

The sky deck of the ship. It's open most of the time, but closed when we go under low bridges, etc. Beautiful place to get some sunlight. 

Church across from the ship (taken from my balcony). The smaller towns seem to each have a church  that's been built with extra care. They're usually the highest point in the town, so easy to spot.